RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Northumberland => Topic started by: Leith Lass on Sunday 16 January 22 18:37 GMT (UK)
-
Hi an ancestor of a friend George Thomas Herron went missing in the first world war and his parents posted an information wanted poster and the address given was 216 Chestnut Street, Ashington, Northumberland. The closest census I can get for checking the address is the 1911 but it appears that Chestnut Street only goes up to 105/106. However when you look at present day I can find number 216 and on google maps the photos of the houses look just look the same as they would have been back then. Can anyone help solve the mystery of number 216. Thank you. Lorna
-
You can search by address in the 1921 census on Find my Past. The address is there but only first names are shown.
If I have the right records, his widow remarried and she can be found with her husband in 1921 too.
-
Map 1888-1913
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=55.18250&lon=-1.56780&layers=6&b=1
Chestnut Street isn't named but you can recognise it - parallel to Poplar Street. Note its length.
Map 1920-21 (pub 1924)
https://maps.nls.uk/view/102346626
Chestnut Street marked - note length
-
-
1915 newspaper item
"... eldest son of Alexander and Elizabeth Lawrie, 208 Chestnut Avenue, Ashington ..."
-
Hi thank you for what you sent me. I need to look at the map in more detail t understand the position of Chestnut Street. However, not yet looked through 1921 census and wondered if you have her new husbands surname so I can do a search please.
Thank you again.
Lorna
-
Wow - you have done great. Just seen your 1915 newspaper item. Is there a link please.
-
Did he marry Kate Ethel White in Whitehaven in 1907?
There is a marriage for Kate E Herron, Morpeth, in 1920 to Ralph Hope.
-
There is a newspaper snippet, Find my Past (other pay sites perhaps also)
Morpeth Herald 13th July 1917
‘Loving memory of my dear brother, Private George Thomas Herron, beloved husband of Kate Herron, Hirst and son of the late George and Alice Herron, Kate Bedlington missing since July … now presumed his loving sister …’
It doesn’t quite make sense at the end and you would have to view it. I don’t have access.
Perhaps the address is that of a sister?
-
Hi Lorna,
I have sent you a personal message, please reply when you can.
Allan
-
There is a newspaper snippet, Find my Past (other pay sites perhaps also)
Morpeth Herald 13th July 1917
‘Loving memory of my dear brother, Private George Thomas Herron N.F, beloved husband of Kate Herron, Hirst and son of the late George and Alice Herron, late of Bedlington Station, missing since July 7th, now presumed dead Ever remembered by his loving sister, Martha and brother in law Tom."
It doesn’t quite make sense at the end and you would have to view it. I don’t have access.
Perhaps the address is that of a sister?
Have made "sense" of newspaper article (I can view it).
-
Morpeth Herald, 3 July 1875
Marriages
"In this town, at the Register Office, 26th ult ...; Same day, Mr George Thomas Heron (one "n"), to Miss Alice Cressford; ..."
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 6 Jul 1940
"DEATHS
HERRON - Linton Colliery, 29, Second Row (the residence of her daughter and son in law Mr and Mrs Tomlinson) on 5th inst., aged 83 years, Alice, beloved wife of the late George Thomas Herron, late of Ashington. Ashington friends please meet at Churchyard** 2.30 pm."
** Newcastle Journal, 8 July 1940
"... Interment Seaton Hirst Church today ..."
-
There are several military records (transcriptions) for George Thomas Herron, born 1888, Sleekburn, father George Thomas Herron, mother Alice Cessford.
He died 7 July 1916 at the Battle of the Somme.
-
Lorna,
The following is the information that I would have sent you if I had your email address:
Morpeth Herald, 13 July 1917
In Memoriam
‘In loving memory of my dear brother, Private George Thomas Herron, N.F., beloved husband of Kate Herron, Hirst, [Hirst was part of Ashington] and son of the late George and Alice Herron, late of Bedlington Station, missing since July 7th, now presumed dead. – Ever remembered by his loving sister Martha and brother in law, Tom’
George Thomas Herron was in the 9th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, service number 14548. He enlisted at Ashington, Northumberland.
A search of army records finds that he was admitted to the 51st Field Ambulance (a mobile front line medical unit) on the 2nd March 1916. His entry shows that he was in ‘D’ Company of the 9th Battalion and he was suffering from FURUNCULOSIS (a deep infection of the skin). On the 5th March he was transferred to number 12 Casualty Clearing Station for treatment. (at this time, 12 CCS was based at HAZEBROUCK in Flanders)
George was presumed dead on the 7th July 1916, he has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
The 9th Battalion (known as the Northumberland Hussars) was a new battalion formed on the 22nd September 1914. The 9th were assigned to the 68th Brigade, 23rd Division and were fighting on the Western Front from August 1915.
The 9th Battalion were involved in the heavy fighting of the Battle of the Somme which commenced on the 1st July 1916. The Battalion’s war diaries record that by the 4th July they were in the trenches east of Becourt Chateau (not far from Fricourt). The diaries actually name the trenches that they were from the 6th July – they were QUADRANGLE and HEDGE LINE TRENCHES.
The Battalion’s actions on the 7th July are recorded in over 4 pages of diary entries with the last entry line for the 7th being ‘The casualty lists for the 4 days from 4th – 7th July show that during this period the Battalion lost, in killed, wounded and missing, 14 officers and 299 other ranks’. George was one of the 299 other ranks.
-
Just to keep 'watchers' up to date, I have shown below some of the information that I PM'd the original poster.
Known facts:
Chestnut Street and Clyde Street both existed in the 1901 and 1911 Census; only Chestnut Street shows in the 1921 Census, Clyde Street has disappeared.
The 1911 Census shows that Chestnut Street only went up to number 106. Clyde Street only went up to number 200
Ashington Urban District Council decided to merge some of the street names in the Hirst area. One of the mergers was that Clyde Street was merged with Chestnut Street and became a longer Chestnut Street.
I can not tell you exactly when this occurred but we know that the two streets were separate in the 1911 Census (beginning of April 1911) and I found an item in the newspaper the Morpeth Herald, 10th May 1912' which was advertising an auction sale of household goods at number 253 Chestnut Street. The merger of the two street would have been between the taking of the 1911 Census and the newspaper article 10th May 1912.I ran this past a friend of mine who is a senior archivist at the County Archives and he confirmed that the merger had occurred.
-
For those who are interested here's a couple of pictures of the Thiepval Memorial in France and the section of the wall with George Thomas Herron memorialised. There are over 72,000 names displayed on the memorial of soldiers who died but have no known grave.
-
Further to the George Thomas Herron who was killed at the Somme in July 1916, his nephew George Timothy Herron (father Thomas Herron) was killed in action in May 1918 and is commemorated at the Soissons Memorial in France.
George Thomas's name appears on the Ashington Memorial and George Timothy's name appears on the Stakeford Memorial (previously listed on the website as CT Herron)
-
PaulJ56 -- thank you for posting the images. The person that I have been assisting since 2022 has now completed her stories on all of the Herron / Heron men that fought in the Great War.